Hey folks, Harry here... I've known Richard Linklater for over 21 years. He found Dad & I at City-Wide-Garage-Sale back before AICN ever happened. He was editing SLACKER at the time. He tried to describe the movie to me while he shopped, but I was so destracted by the choices he was making... like all JERRY LEWIS lobby cards he bought - and if he bought a one sheet, I was all about seeing the film and the filmmaker. I was in College at the time and didn't really know any filmmakers. I'd met Robert Rodriguez at the original DRAGON'S LAIR shop when the DAILY TEXAN cartoonists like Tom King and Chris Ware and Robert were doing sketches and signings. But Robert and I said maybe 5 words between us at that time. But I remember when Linklater started having success, he started buying more posters from us. I know about Preston Sturges because when Linklater bought our UNFAITHFULLY YOURS one-sheet - he went on and on about how Sturges was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Writer-Director who was no commonly BELOVED at that time. I went to Vulcan Video and rented 4 Preston Sturges flicks, then came back the next day to get the rest... one of the most amazing filmmaker discoveries I had at that point in my life.
I can not say enough - what a complete honor it was to witness Linklater founding the Austin Film Society - having screenings above QUACKENBUSH'S... then in the Texas Union theater... It is how I discovered the whole of CASSAVETES and SAM FULLER... And having Linklater doing many of the early introductions to classic films... I was a sponge... soaking it in. That I loved his films was completely separate from loving Rick - the film lover. He's very unassuming, but if you saw BOYHOOD and thought like everyone else this is brilliant... Linklater has a lot of those. Hosting the first triple feature of the Ethan Hawke/Julie Delphy trilogy at the Marchesa... and doing a Q&A with Richard... I suddenly realized... in this enormous amount of time, we've never done that before. Not in front of an audience. We've talked a lot over the years, but I rarely ever write to Richard or probe to find out what he's up to because... I love to just be slapped upside the head by whatever he's making. Walking around Austin after WAKING LIFE is still one of the most invigorating Film & Home Town experiences that I've ever had. I know LOTS of the folks that were animated for that film - and it is just amazing amazing to watch.
That there's a documentary coming that's all about the past 21 years of Linklater... I'm excited. I hope this gets people to reexamine the entire body of work, but more than that - I hope the doc touches upon what Linklater has done here in Austin, because it should absolutely be a model for filmmakers that love their town, and want to make it their base of operations. I would not be the film geek I am without those 90's screenings of classic films. Going to every single one of those screenings.
I'm completely biased regarding Linklater... he made the city I love an even better place... As a filmmaker he's bold and experimental in a time when very few successful directors veer more than 20% from their last success - he'll shoot a secret film for a long time and then blow your mind with it.
Now - here's the trailer - this will be having a theatrical and VOD release...
